


The Judas Effect

by Squidkisser



Category: Lobotomy Corporation (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Fights, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kinda?, Memory Loss, Mind Control, Multi, References to Depression, Reset au, Self-Hatred, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Time Travel, Violence, characters remembering what happened after a reset, do resets count as time travel, drug usage, like imma put some really detailed gore scenes, lots of gore, occasional soft moments, self indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squidkisser/pseuds/Squidkisser
Summary: Working at Lobotomy Corporation isn't easy, and staying positive is even harder to do. Sometimes, the only escape you can get is death or drugs.And sometimes, even death can't stop the torment.
Relationships: Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary/Original Character(s), Netzach (Lobotomy Corporation)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The Judas Effect

Wake up. Get ready. Head to your assigned position in the large building known as Lobotomy Corporation. Do your job, don’t slow down. Pray that you don’t get assigned as a throw away. Pray to whatever God is out there that nothing escapes. And if it did escape, either hide or fight for your life. That’s how it has always been here, and that’s how it seemed it would always be. Chat with your coworkers when you weren’t assigned to an anomaly, or isolate yourself in busywork. The higher ups tended to prefer if you did the latter. But then again, some Sephirah were more easygoing than the others. Yesod was cold, and would push those on his team to work until they dropped. Malkuth tried to keep everyone in line, but was clumsy and would mess things up herself. Hod did her best to keep those under her happy, and would try to comfort those in need. Netzach couldn't care less, but still tried to keep everyone alive. 

Everyone had a job. Everyone had a role, and everyone was held to the same high expectations. Each level had different teams, each one equally as important (though some on the lower levels would argue their position was _far_ more important than those on floors above them.) Everyone worked together, either out of necessity or just to ease their workload. Even those who despised the contact of others would occasionally force themself to go work with the others, because at this point it would be better to work alongside them than be brutally maimed or eaten alive by a high level anomaly. 

The more cheerful employees would either lose some of that joy soon after joining. And if they didn’t, they tended to be kept at a wide berth. But that’s how it was in this corporation. Those who truly enjoyed their work were unnerving. Those who dreaded it were commonplace. And those who took a fascination with the creatures were even more common. Again, each person had their role. And missing one of those groups could throw the entire corporation on its head. Each belief and attitude was documented. Each one was needed. Each one unique and necessary for this company to function.

But at the same time, each one of those people was so _terribly_ easy to replace.

\----------

Demian woke to their alarm with a grumble, moving to silence it and check the time. They squinted at the light from their phone, sighing as the numbers “6:25” shone into their face before the screen went black. They had some time before they had to get up, so they turned on their side to face away from their phone that they had left sitting on the edge of their bed and closed their eyes again. They stayed like that for five minutes, before finally slowly sitting up and stretching, their back popping as they did. They had been working here for about four months, and everything had started falling into routine. They pushed themself out of bed slowly, and walked into their bathroom, rubbing the sleep from their eyes before going and brushing their teeth, then grabbing a brush and working on smoothing their short, black hair.

Their room was nothing fancy, but it was a place they got to be alone. The walls were a light gray and their twin sized bed was pressed into one of the corners of the room. The blankets were black, a heavy quilt neatly folded at the foot of their bed for the colder nights. But then again, the room never really got uncomfortably hot or cold. A thermostat was next to the door, kept at a comfortable 70° fahrenheit (they were grateful the thermostat showed the temperature in both fahrenheit and celsius.) There was a personal bathroom off the side of their room, with a bath combination shower and a counter with a sink and anything else they may need. Their room even had a minifridge they filled with snacks and drinks, so they didn’t have to leave as much. There was a desk and the normal dresser and closet, and the carpet was soft and black. 

After finishing brushing out their hair, they quickly changed into their uniform, buttoning their suit to the very top before putting the bulletproof vest on top of it. They grabbed their weapons; two semi automatic pistols. One was white, and one was black, and both had butterflies drawn onto them. They were apparently made with the assistance of an anomaly called _Funeral of the Dead Butterflies._ He wasn’t in their sector of the company, so they had never actually seen it. From what they’d heard about it, they kind of wished they had. 

They turned to leave, but paused and looked back to their vanity. A crown of thorns sat neatly on it, and they hesitated again before walking over and gently touching it. The thorns never pierced their skin, and while it was sturdy, it wasn’t hard or uncomfortable. It had been a gift to them from One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds. They still weren’t used to wearing it, but they did notice that when they did, each time they went to work with One Sin, it felt much happier. It didn’t speak, but they could feel the atmosphere change, and it put them at ease.

They paused, a hand almost touching the crown of thorns. Then they sighed, and put it on their head carefully. 

_“It’s better to keep that thing happy. I don’t want to be the one that makes it snap.”_ they thought to themself before grabbing their phone, putting on their shoes, and leaving the room, locking the door behind them with a sturdy _clunk_ as the bars fell into place in the lock. They then began to head through the hallways of the living areas, into an elevator, and down into the Asiyah level of the building, where they worked. Checking their phone they saw the time read “6:50” and they sighed. They’d be a bit early, so they knew Yesod would be quick to put them to work. Most likely compiling documents and going over the new information gathered on new anomalies in different parts of the building.

The elevator stopped with a slight jolt, making them grab the inside railing and grumble before stepping out of the heavily armored box and walk to the center room of the facility, pulling out a chair at one of the secluded computers and setting their things on the ground nearby. A few other people had already arrived, and Yesod was laying into one of them for an error they made the day before. He seemed to glance at Demian as they opened up files on new information that others had documented and began going over them for any errors in grammar or spelling. Yesod seemed content with this, but called a “Demian. You have a training regime to go through at 5:30 PM sharp. In the same training room as always.” before going back to lecturing the new worker. Demian sighed. Today was going to be a long day.

\----------

In another part of the housing area, Jekyll awoke with a start as their alarm went off. Looking at it, they saw the clock read “6:30.” They yawned and silenced the blaring alarm, swinging their legs over the end of their bed and walking to their bathroom. They brushed their teeth and brushed their long, purple hair back into a high ponytail, grumbling a bit as it took them three tries to get it right. As they walked back into the main room, they shoved the door to their closet open and pulled out a suit. It was a gray german military suit with a dark blue coat, gold trim along the edge of the coat and a golden chain to keep it held in place. They smiled as they set it on their bed, tossing their current clothes to the side and slipping into the comfortable suit, leaving some of the dress shirt buttons undone and tossing the tie back into their closet. Jekyll laughed a bit as they remembered the name of the suit. _Magic Bullet_. That’s what the entire line of objects made with the assistance of Der Freischüz were called.

They looked around their room after checking the time again. Only ten minutes had passed. Even if they were late, Netzach wouldn’t care. So they decided to check their phone and write a list of what they needed to get done. 

_“Clean your room”_ was at the top of the list for when they finished work. They’d admit, their room had gotten _a bit_ messy in the past week. They had been so excited about documenting all they learned about _Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary_ that they had let their room’s tidiness suffer. 

The room was a bit larger than others, and it was on a lower floor. Jekyll had earned quite a few promotions in their year of work for Lobotomy Corporation, granting them a bigger room. The room had dark purple walls, and a black carpet. The ceiling they had gotten permission to paint themself, and it was covered with painted galaxies and stars. Something to look at since they rarely got to see outside anymore. In one corner of the room was a plant, which was growing up along the wall, leaves dark green and flowers bright. There was a desk beside the plant, and a mini fridge next to that. Their bed was a full size, covered in pillows and blankets and even a few stuffed animals. 

Their bed was in a corner of the room, a side table next to it on one end and a short dresser beside it on the other. The pillows were all piled into the corner of the bed touching both walls, and the blankets were strewn about in a mess. The side table had a small lamp on it, and a copy of _No Longer Human_ by Osamu Dazai lay under it, the cover worn from being read over and over. Jekyll had added some more to their list, before they jumped up suddenly, walking into the bathroom and looking around, before locating what they sought out.

A red surgical style mask shaped like a wide smile with razor sharp teeth sat neatly folded on the counter. They smiled as they picked it up, putting it on and brushing strands of hair out from under it. The mask covered more than half their face, going over their nose and under their chin, staying close and tight to the skin, but not enough to be uncomfortable. They smiled under it, giving a nod to themself before going to their closet and reaching for their weapon. They hesitated as they did before taking a deep breath and grabbing it, using it to support themself. _“Paradise Lost…”_ they said to themself, looking into the eyes of the sculpted snake. 

“I went through hell and back to get my hands on you…” they said, glancing at the matching outfit hung in their closet. They put a hand on the collar of their jacket and turned, the coat accentuating the turn with a flourish. They grabbed their phone and put their glasses on before leaving the room, posture straightening and eyes hardening, but still holding a hint of mischief. They locked their door and headed to the security team’s. They pulled their mask down as Netzach waved them over lazily, handing them a can of soda.  
  
They took a sip as Netzach complained about the job, smiling slightly at him. He returned their smile with a lazy one of his own when he noticed, before going “Oh yeah. Yesod has some people he wants you to train or something. I think he said 5:30 PM in the east training room. I dunno, you might wanna check with him. Something about havin’ an experienced worker teach them how to handle breakouts or whatever.” Netzack took a sip of his beer after that, signalling that he was done talking with a wave of his hand.

Jekyll sighed as they walked to their post, finishing their soda and crushing the can before tossing it into a recycling bin. They were used to training newbies by now, but they never really enjoyed it. Always preferred to be on the front lines. Fighting. Or hanging out with some anomalies. But, they knew better than to try and argue with something Yesod wanted done. Opening their phone, they added _“Train some workers; 5:30 PM east training hall”_ to the top of their to-do list as they sat on their chair. They hoped today wouldn’t be too crazy.


End file.
